Lethal Resuscitation (The Dr. Cathy Moreland Mysteries) by Mairi Chong

Author:Mairi Chong [Chong, Mairi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Published: 2022-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

23

He left the upstairs landing light on. It wasn’t mentioned but he knew he should. Years ago, she’d explained how threatening the dark was and how frightened she felt with nothing to gauge her whereabouts. Now, it was a silent understanding. In times of difficulty, he knew the nightmares would return. They always did.

They hadn’t spoken about it since the letter had arrived. Gus had gone about his duties, more painstakingly and with perhaps more nostalgia. Every consultation would now have to be imprinted into his memory. He’d been doing it more and more since he realised he was dying. That was another thing they hadn’t spoken about. She knew. They had both known long before it was confirmed on the mainland over a year ago. Now the appointments were to check the progress of the disease but they were long past stopping it.

He had gone alone to that initial appointment. Of course, he had to. Mary would stay to take any emergency calls for him, to redirect any if necessary or to advise the less urgent ones that he’d be home that afternoon. On the whole, the islanders were understanding. At times demanding, but when it came to it, they understood. He’d given his life to the island and they knew it.

He cast his mind back to that day when he had been told that the cancer had taken hold. When he had returned, Mary had been waiting. She’d seen the ferry from the upstairs window and had walked down to the jetty to meet him, her cotton dress catching in the wind so that she had to press the skirt down with her hands. Surely in her heart, she had known. He smiled at her as the boat began to dock. Its engines roared, forcing water backwards to slow the approach and then, as metal touched stone, the crushing groan.

Gus wondered if she preferred to hear it outside in the open air. Maybe he was being fanciful but perhaps she found the thunder of the sea and the salt on her lips a comfort. They had been her companions for so long after all.

They had walked back towards the house arm-in-arm. Gus had nodded to the Lochty twins who ran past the other way and Mary told him that there had only been three calls all morning and none of them were urgent. Her hand was tight on his sleeve. He felt her chest touching his elbow with every step.

‘So,’ he said, letting the word escape.

‘So.’

They stood at the crest of the hill having passed the end of the harbour and the line of terraced fisherman’s cottages that took the full force of the elements on a stormy day.

Their house, the one they had moved into as soon as they were married, was another hundred yards on. The road that led to it had a further four houses but these were spaced apart and each set back off the track. This was the more habitable side to the island and yet it still felt as if they were quite alone.

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